Etymologically
Log in

gazette

Etymology and origin of the French word gazette

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
late 16th century, Agrippa d'Aubigné
Borrowed from
Italian gazzetta
Ultimate origin
Venetian (gazeta)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French gazette
English gazette

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡa.zɛt/[1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [ɡazɛt][1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [ɡazet][1]

Forms

gazette f (plural gazettes)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian gazzetta (“news sheet”) (before 1580),[2][3][4][1][5] from the name of the Venetian news sheet Gazeta de le novità, which cost a gazeta, a small coin struck at Venice from 1539 and worth about three liards.[2][3][4][6] D'Aubigné uses “gazette” for the coin itself.[2][7]

The origin of the Venetian coin name is disputed.[2][3] It may be a derivative of Latin gaza (“treasure”), from Ancient Greek γάζα (gáza, “the Persian king's treasure”), a word of Iranian origin;[2][3][8] or a diminutive of Venetian gaza (“magpie”), of the same origin as geai, as Bloch and Wartburg prefer and the TLFi thinks less likely.[4][2][8] Rey adds that Middle French gaser (“to chatter”) (modern jaser) must have helped the borrowing, a gazette being thought of as a chatterer.[3][8] Littré also cites, and rejects, an Indo-Persian word for “paper” proposed by Garcin de Tassy.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Agrippa d'Aubigné, late in the 16th century, writes of what nous dit la gazette, a periodical paper of news; in another passage he uses it for the Venetian coin worth three liards.[7][6][3]

Semantic evolution

La Gazette was the title of a satirical poem in 1609, and Cotgrave (1611) defines a gazette as a news sheet[2][9]; Théophraste Renaudot's Gazette of 1631 made it the name of a newspaper.[2][9] From the late 16th century the word is also used of a talkative person who spreads news, and before 1654 of a detailed account of small news.[3][6]

Gazette has since given way to journal and survives mainly in newspaper titles, jokingly, or regionally; in Belgium it is a daily paper.[4][9][10] The derivative gazetier (1633) has gone out of use.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 1539 – The Venetian coin gazeta is first struck.[2][3]
  • before 1580 – Italian gazzetta “news sheet”.[2]
  • 1609 – La Gazette, title of a satirical poem.[2]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave defines it as a news sheet.[2]
  • 1631 – Renaudot's Gazette.[9]
  • 1633 – Gazetier.[4][3]
  • before 1654 – A detailed account of small news (Guez de Balzac).[6][3]
  • 1694 – First recorded by the Académie.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated, regional or humorous) A periodical newspaper; a gazette.[9][10]
  2. (Belgium) A daily paper.[10]
  3. (dated) A person who spreads gossip: la gazette du quartier.[9][10]

Word family

  • gazetier

Usage notes

Littré has a second gazette, a porcelain makers' term, an alteration of casette, the clay case in which pieces are fired.[7][11] Gazette is spelled with two t, gazetier with one.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 22a
  6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 451b

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Gazette.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/gazette. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·